In this week's Highlights:

Band of the Week: We The Kings
Released Last Week (August 19th, 2008)
Released Today
Album Review: Fast Times at Barrington High
News from Taylor
Tour Spotlight
Bandictionary News


Band of the Week: We The Kings

One of my favorite local bands, We The Kings, got their start in middle school in 2003 in Bradenton, Florida. We The Kings is consisted of Travis Clark (vocals and guitar), Hunter Thomsen (guitar), Drew Thomsen (bass), and Danny Duncan (drums). The band independently released 3 albums, Ivy, Friendship is a Touchy Subject, and Between the Ink and Paper. After signing to S-Curve Records, We The Kings released a self-titled album in 2007. Since then, they have toured with popular bands such as Cobra Starship, Metro Station, All Time Low, and many more. They have also gotten quite a lot of mainstream popularity, appearing on MTV and airing on radio stations across the US. We The Kings just got done playing the Wapred Tour and will be heading out with The Academy Is... this fall.

myspace.com/wethekings
purevolume.com/wethekings

[Written by Taylor.]


Released Last Week (August 19th, 2008):

31Knots - Worried Well (Polyvinyl)
Agraceful - The Great I Am (Sumerian)
Anima - TBA (Metal Blade)
Apse - Spirit (ATO)
Blackmore's Night - Secret Voyage (SPV)
Canon - Alive (One Eleven)
David Vandervelde - Waiting For The Sunrise (Secretly Canadian)
Death Vessel - Nothing Is Precious Enough For Us (Sub Pop)
Don Caballero - Punkgasm (Relapse)
Falconer - Among Beggars And Thieves (Metal Blade)
Family Force Five - Dance Or Die (Tooth & Nail)
Heavy Heavy Low Low - Turtle Nipple And The Toxic Shock (Ferrett)
Human Highway - Moody Motorcycle (Suicide Squeeze)
Ill Bill - The Hour Of Reprisal (Uncle Howie/Strange)
Jaguar Love - Take Me To The Sea (Matador)
Jeff Hanson - Madam Owl (Kill Rock Stars)
Jesu - Why Are We Not Perfect (Hydra Head)
Kids Like Us - The Mongoloids (Double Or Nothing)
Know The Score - All Guts, Still No Glory [reissue] (Eulogy)
Know The Score - All Or Nothing (Eulogy)
Kristoffer Ragnstam - Wrong Side Of The Room (Bluhammock)
Laura Marling - Alas, I Cannot Swim (Astralwerks)
Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez - Why Is Bear Billowing (Carpark)
Lykke Li - Youth Novels (LL)
Mondo Primo - 2FN Hot (Hwinoua)
One For The Team - Build It Up (The Militia Group)
Overcast - Reborn To Kill Again (Metal Blade)
Perhapst - Perhapst (In Music We Trust)
Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line (Barsuk)
sBACH - sBACH (Suicide Squeeze)
Shock Of Pleasure - It's About Time (UMG/Fontana)
Stereolab - Chemical Chords (Beggars Banquet)
The Acacia Strain - Continent (Prosthetic)
The Academy Is... - Fast Times At Barrington High (Fueled By Ramen/Atlantic)
The American Dollar - A Memory Stream (Yesh)
The Classic Struggle - TBA (Ironclad)
The Dandy Warhols - Earth To The Dandy Warhols (Beat The World)
The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound (SideOneDummy)
The Human Abstract - Midheaven (Hopeless)
The Showdown - Back Breaker (Solid State)
The Summer Set - ...In Color EP (The Militia Group)
The Uglysuit - The Uglysuit (Quarterstick)
The Windupdeads - The Windupdeads (One Eleven)
Uh Huh Her - Common Reaction (Nettwerk)
Various Artists - Summer Slaughter:The Most Extreme Tour Of The Year DVD (Sumerian)

Released Today:

Acusis - Dancefloors & Cocktails (Freedumb)
Alias - Resurgam (Anticon)
Cordero - De Donde Eres (Bloodshot)
Datarock - Computer Camp Love [EP] (Nettwerk)
DragonForce - Ultra Beatdown (Roadrunner)
Giants - Old Stories (Cavity)
Goldcure - Portuguese Prince (Team Clermont)
Good
Jupiter One - Jupiter One (Cordless)
Marykate O'Neil - mk-ULTRA (Nettwerk)
Reign Of Kindo - Rhythm, Chord & Melody (One Eleven)
Rookie Of The Year - Sweet Attention (One Eleven)
Slipknot - All Hope Is Gone (Roadrunner)
SteveSongs - The Marvelous Musical Video Adventures of SteveSongs DVD (Rounder)
The Silent Years - The Globe (YTBD)
The Swear - Hotel Rooms And Heart Attacks (Self-released)
Valencia - We All Need A Reason To Believe (Columbia)

[Release lists from altpress.net - click here for more information.]


Album Review:

Fast Times at Barrington High - The Academy Is... (Fueled By Ramen/Atlantic)
[Released August 19th, 2008]


The Academy Is... have finally released their third album "Fast Times at Barrington High". I have to say, it's pretty damn amazing. However, if you are one of the fans that didn't like "About A Girl" or the first single, "Summer Hair=Forever Young", you probably won't love the album as much as the rest of us.

Either way, the band has retained all the positive elements from Santi & Almost Here and built upon those. The album has catchy lyrics and great instrumental parts. Every song evokes emotion and even sitting and reading the CD booklet is great. The songs even sound great live! So listen to "About A Girl", watch the video "Summer Hair=Forever Young" and buy the album. I doubt you'll have difficulty finding quite a few tracks that you love!

[Written by Brit.]


News from Taylor

Don't forget that The Academy Is... released their third album, Fast Times At Barrington High, last week and have also released tour dates. (The dates can be found in Tour Spotlight, below.) Coheed and Cambria have announced a few new Neverender dates. For more info on those, click here. Fall Out Boy has been messing with our heads all week, finally announcing that they will be releasing a new album called "Folie a Deux". For a recap of all of the things they put us through, clck here.

Gym Class Heroes released their new video for "Cookie Jar", and posted "Guilty as Charged" on their MySpace. Disashi from Gym Class Heroes also announced that he and his girlfriend are expecting a baby. Congrats! I Am Ghost will be releasing Those We Leave Behind on October 7th. They have also posted a few new songs. I Hate Kate has a few new tour dates up, as well.

Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance posted a pretty lengthy new blog on the 24th. Paramore will be releasing a DVD from the Final Riot! Tour, and will also be performing at this year's VMA's. Say Anything is offering drums lessons. Senses Fail have posted a few new songs on their MySpace, and have released their new EP on iTunes, so go check it out!

You can watch Sherwood perform a few new songs here. Sonny Moore announced that his album is almost finished and is in the post-production process. The Denny's resteraunt chain is adding some new items to their menu, including Plain White Shakes and Taking Back Bacon Burger Fries. And lastly, Thursday is currently recording a new album with Dave Fridmann.

[Written by Taylor.]


Tour Spotlight

This week's tour spotlight features the Bill and Trav's Bogus Journey Tour featuring The Academy Is..., We The Kings, Carolina Liar, and Hey Monday. The special Santi's Little Helpers pre-sale started on the 19th and normal tickets went on sale on August 23rd. Tour dates can be found below.

10.01 Charlotte, NC @ Amos' Southend
10.02 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
10.03 Orlando, FL @ House Of Blues
10.04 Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
10.05 St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Landing
10.07 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
10.08 Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
10.09 Austin, TX @ Emo's
10.11 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
10.14 Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues
10.15 Los Angeles, CA @ House Of Blues
10.17 San Diego, CA @ Soma
10.18 Anaheim, CA @ House Of Blues
10.19 San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Center
10.21 Vancouver, BC @ Croatian Centre
10.22 Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
10.23 Portland, OR @ Roseland Theatre
10.25 Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue
10.26 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
10.28 Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium
10.29 Kansas City, MO @ Beaumont Club
10.30 Sauget, IL @ Pop's
10.31 Minneapolis, MN @ The Cabooze
11.01 Milwaukee, WI @ The Eagles Club
11.02 Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
11.04 Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart's
11.05 Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues
11.06 Chicago, IL @ House Of Blues
11.09 Pontiac, MI @ Clutch Cargo's
11.11 Clifton Park, NY @ Northern Lights
11.12 Boston, MA @ The Roxy
11.13 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
11.14 Hartford, CT @ Webster Theatre
11.15 Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
11.17 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
11.18 Norfolk, VA @ The Norva
11.19 New York, NY @ Roseland Ballroom
11.21 Montreal, QC @ Medley
11.22 Toronto, ON @ The Guvernment
11.23 Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom

[Written by Taylor.]


Bandictionary News

Not too much has been posted lately, but there's plenty coming up! Coming soon is an interview with Justin Mauriello from a couple months back, an interview with Jeffree Star, and a few new photo sets. Expect photos from the Reggie and the Full Effect show in San Luis Obispo, CA on 8/27, plus a few more!

New biographies are on the way, as well, so stay tuned for those. We hope to add new bands soon, including New Tomorrow, Reggie and the Full Effect, Leathermouth, Men, Women & Children, Limbeck, and more.

As you can see, Highlights has two new articles, with at least one more coming soon. You'll see the next issue on September 2nd with a new issue posted every Tuesday after that. We look forward to going back to the old once-a-week postings and we hope you're looking forward to that, too!

[Written by Emilee.]